Orthodontic arch wire construction and method



Se t. 4, 1962 M. WALLSHEIN ,081v

ORTHODONTIC ARCH WIRE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD Filed Dec. 21, 1959 FIG I 37 '7 II/I/l/II/I/l/I/I/flu' l6 FIG-2 FIG 3 FIG.4

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M ELVI N WALLSH El N,

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent Ofifice 3,052,081 Patented Sept. 4, 1962 3,052,081 ORTHODONTIC ARCH WIRE CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD Melvin Walishein, 8645 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn, N.Y. Filed Dec. 21, 1959, Ser. No. 861,076 4 Claims. (Cl. 57139) The present invention relates to a novel and improved construction for an orthodontic arch wire and to the method for making the same.

The physical incidents occurring in the process of aligning teeth, is very ably set forth in the introductory paragraphs of Patent No. 2,230,315. Essentially, the most desirable orthodontic arch should have the ability to exert a slight pressure on an individual tooth sufiicient to move it gently and continuously by its tendency to return to a predetermined position and still have enough power to change the shape of the arch back to a contour where the alignment of all the teeth encompassed is brought to normal.

It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to provide an arch wire of novel and improved construction which will offer resilient forces against individual teeth and have the incidents of rod stiffness in total.

} Another object thereof is to provide a ,novel and improved arch wire of the character mentioned, which will suffer no permanent deformation whatever when the patient Wearing it eats a normal diet.

Although the arch Wire of the present invention is a cable structure, it is a further object of this invention to keep its size within the limits of arch wires used in orthodontia and that it will not fray when out by the dentist working therewith.

Still, a further object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved orthodontic arch wire structure having the attributes mentioned, which is easy and cheap to manufacture, .easy to use and efiicient in carrying out the purposes for which it is designed and to provide a method for making same.

-. Other objects and advantages will become apparent as this disclosure proceeds.

For the practice of this invention, for example, three pieces of straight arch wire stock are secured at one of their ends held together in a rotatable holder and their other ends are held together in a clamp on a slide which is controllably movable on a track towards said rotatable holder. The wires, maintained in constant tension, upon rotation of said rotatable holder, will become a cable of twisted wires and such twist is made close and tight. The desired arch cable structure is one in which each of its individual wires is in the forrnof a helix as if wound on a mandrel of zero diameter and the turns of said cable structure shall be in planes substantially perpendicular to the cable axis. When in such condition, the cable will have been stressed by the torsion action occasioned by said revolving of the rotatable holder, somewhat beyond the elastic limit. Elasticity along short lengths of the cable structure remains practically intact while longer lengths have a stiffness causing the cable to straighten. This arch wire structure when mounted on the patients teeth, exerts a slight pressure on individual teeth sufficient to move them gently, and continuously by its tendency to return to normal alignment position, has enough power to bring the arch structure back from its distorted shape caused by the abnormal positions of the teeth to be shifted. The wires constituting the cable are quite thin so that their composite shall be of small enough size for use in orthodontia with comfort.

In the accompanying drawing which forms part of this specification, similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

FIG. 1 is an elevational View of a wire-twisting apparatus which I use for making the new arch wire.

FIG. 2 is a magnified view showing a length of twisted wire cable made of three thin wires of the kind of material used in orthodontic arch wire. This is a preliminary structure from which the final arch cable is made by further twisting in the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view likewise magnified, showing the cable of FIG. 2 made into a helical form of substantially zero internal diameter, which will be used to explain what occurs when the cable of FIG. 2 is further twisted.

FIG. 4 is an end view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows the cable of FIG. 3 unwound some and the unwound portion is illustrated rather exaggerated.

FIG. 6 is a magnified view of a length of the finished cable structure which is my new arch wire.

FIG. 7 is an end view of the arch wire structure of FIG. 6, whose cross section has been changed from round by any suitable distortion apparatus well known in the wire-working art, to be substantially rectangular in cross-section so that the arch wire can be torqued as is the practice in orthodontia.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the upper teeth of a patient with an arch wire structure shown in FIG. 6 mounted thereon by suitable anchorage means and support brackets.

In the drawing, the numeral 15 designates a cable made by twisting together the wires 16 while under tension until the turns 17 lie in planes substantially perpendicular to the cable axis. The wires '15 used, are of the stock orthodontic wire is made, but thin so that the size of said cable 15 shall be as is ordinarily proper for orthodontic use. During the process of twisting said wires together, the cable first assumes the form 18, but as the twisting continues, the turns become closer and tighter and their tilt with respect to the cable axis changes. The twisting is stopped when the planes of the turns 17 are substantially perpendicular to cable axis as shown in FIG. 6. In this condition, the cable 15 has been stressed by the torsion action occasioned by the twisting operation, a bit beyond the elastic limit and the wires 16 shall be so chosen that they so behave. Cable 15 is my new arch wire material for use as the arch wire 15 in orthodontia as illustrated for example in FIG. 8, where its ends are anchored as at 26, only one of which anchorage means appears in this view, and said arch wire 15 is supported on brackets mounted on bands about individual teeth. The brackets are indicated by the numeral 27 and said bands by the nu meral 28. r U

To recognize the forces brought to play on the cable, I may resort to the experiment of taking a rubber band, anchoring one end thereof and twisting the other end many times while the band is under tension. Now upon diminuation of the tension, the twisted band will assume helical form as shown at 29, which is unwound some,

would appear like the helical form 30 shown exaggerated at FIG. 5. The forces playing in the twisted rubber band, occur in the making of the wire cable 15, and I surmise that there occurs a change in the molecular structure, imparting great resiliency to the cable 15, and yet, such cable is sufficiently still. and of great strength, as if rod-like. Also take into account that in twisting the wires in making the cable, for each segmental length, the twist thereof sets upon the mid-section of segment being stressed a bit beyond the elastic limit, leaving the end sections of each segment intact as to their elasticity. Hence in the finished cable 15, we may deem same made of thousands of minute consecutive segments, stretched so that alternate minute segments are stressed a bit beyond their elastic limit and the intermediate minute segments intact as to their elasticity. Though such physical condition does exist, the cable as an entity may be deemed stressed beyond the elastic limit and such is the intention of such expression in the appended claims. In any event, my new cable 15 has the physical properties I have sought. The torsional and tensile effects, I believe become locked in. This cable 15 does not fray when cut and may be bent or looped without opening the strands or fraying the ends, all of which make it ideal for efficient orthodontic procedures.

The arch Wire structure 15 may be made by use of an apparatus shown in FIG. 1, which comprises a fixed motor 31 driving a chuck 32 which securely holds the wires 16 'at one of their ends while a clamp 33 on a slide member 34, securely holds the other ends of said wires together. Said slide member 34 is movable on the track 35, away from and towards the chuck 32, but biased away from said chuck by action of the tension coil spring 36. A hand wheel 37 is manually operable and through suitable mechanism not shown but well known in the machine art, turning of said hand wheel will move the slide member 34 along its track. With the wires 16 so mounted, the handwheel is turned to impose tension on the -Wires 16, while the motor 31 is operated, whereupon the wires become twisted one on the other to form the cable. Although the slide member will automatically move towards the chuck 32 while this is being done, the operator will need to hold the handwheel so as to continue the tension while the cable 15 is being formed.

It is to be noted that as the twisting operation continues, the cable length shortens and hence the density of the cable is increased. It is evident that the density of the cable is at its maximum possible when the planes of the turns 17 are perpendicular to cable axis. This .gives the cable 15 the attributes of strength of a rod; the cable form maintaining flexibility because of the retention of the flexibility in spaced segmental parts thereof as heretofore explained.

If desired, the wire structure 15 may have its round cross-sectional shape deformed to be substantially rectangular by processes known, as at 38, so that in use, the arch wire may be torqued as is practiced in or'thodontia.

This invention is capable of numerous forms and various applications without departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It is therefore intended and desired that the embodiment shown and the process described shall be deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive and that the patent shall novelty herein set forth; reference being had to the following claims rather than to the specific description herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

1- claim:

*1. An orthodontic arch wire structure comprising a cable formed of a plurality of wires tightly and closely cover all patentable I i twisted one on the other; the planes of the turns of said wires being virtually perpendicular to the axis of the cable to provide some lineal stiffness and a lateral resiliency in the cable and said cable being stressed near and beyond its elastic limit; said stressing being accomplished during the twisting of said wires; each Wire in the cable being in the form of a helix of substantially zero internal diameter.

2. An orthodontic arch wire structure comprising a cable formed of a plurality of wires tightly and closely twisted one on the other; the planes of the turns of said wires being virtually perpendicular to the axis of the cable to provide some lineal stiflness and a lateral resiliency in the cable; each wire in the cable being in the form of a helix of substantially zero internal diameter.

3. The method for making an orthodontic arch wire structure which consists of holding one of the ends of each of a plurality of Wires securely together and of holding said wires together securely at a region away from said ends, then simultaneously stressing said wires in tension and rotating said ends as a unit about a line along and within the confines of said wires thereby twisting said wires one on the other and making them into a cable in the form of a helix of Zero diameter, and continuing such stressing and twisting until the planes of the turns of the wires in such cable are substantially perpendicular to the axis of the cable and the cable is tensed near and beyond its elastic limit.

4. The method for making an orthodontic arch wire structure which consists of holding one of the ends of each of a plurality of wires securely together and of holding said wires together securely at a region away from said ends, then simultaneously stressing said wires in tension androtating said ends as a unit about a line along and Within the confines of said wires thereby twisting said wiresone on the other and making them into a cable in the form of a helix of Zero diameter, and continuing such stressing and twisting until the planes of the turns 'of the wires in such cable are virtually perpendicular to the axis of the cable.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,292,702 Canning Jan. 28, 1919 1,376,730 Ruotf May 3, 1921 1,522,373 Knight Jan. 6, 1925 1,694,360 Larned Dec. 4, 1928 1,700,170 Larned Jan. 29, 1929 2,341,613 Hannan et al. Feb. 15, 1944 2,758,629 Lewis Aug. 14, 1956 2,918,271 Crites Dec. 22, 1959 2,935,838 Briscoe May 10, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 796,026 Great Britain June 4, 19 58 

